INTERVIEW: It feels like a big load has been lifted off

Jamie Devitt bagged a beauty of a goal on Saturday – his first for the club – when he smashed a first-time volley from a James Brown through ball into the bottom corner to send his side on the way to a well-deserved three points.

Having spoken openly about the need to add goals to his game recently, we asked him what it felt like to have broken his duck with such an important finish.

“I’ll be honest with you, the way the lads reacted to it means a lot,” he said. “I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on myself lately and I’ve been getting into the box more, and making forward runs.

“That paid off for me this time. They’re all calling me ‘Slash Gordon’ in the dressing room for the way I put it away, but I think I connected with it perfectly, and it was like a huge weight off my shoulders when it hit the back of the net.”

“With the through ball from James [Brown], I don’t know if he meant it or if it was just a clearance down the line,” he joked. “We talk a lot about putting balls into good areas and I’m just glad I was there to put it away.

“To be honest, it’s been so frustrating for me with not playing games and then not producing my best when I have come on. Hopefully I can kick on now.”

“Another good thing about the goal is that the fans were right behind me,” he continued. “I think I probably owed them that goal for the way they’ve stuck by me. When you come on as a sub the main thing you want to do is make an impact.

“Thankfully I’ve done that and it’s a huge bonus that it’s the goal that won us the game. I’m buzzing, to be honest, and I can’t wait to get home now. My little boy always gives it out to me when I don’t go back to him with a goal, or whatever, so I can’t wait to tell him that I’ve scored.”

With competition for places high within the squad, he told us: “I’ve had a chat with the manager and I get on really well with him. When I spoke to him I told him that I know I need to start scoring and creating goals.

“He agreed and the reason I haven’t been in the team is probably because I haven’t done enough of that. This happened with Jason [Kennedy] so hopefully I can do what he did and get myself on a little run.

“I do feel more confident already, just off the back of that first goal. During the game I was thinking about what I was going to do when the next chance came. I think every player will tell you that once one goes in they start to come regularly, and it really did feel like a big load was lifted off me today.”

When asked if the home form was playing on the minds of the players, he commented. “I don’t think it is. I just feel that we don’t need to overthink it. I know we haven’t been good at home but we should be going into Tuesday with no fear.

“If we play the way we want to play the results will come. We’ve got a great bunch of lads in there and I know we’ll change the results at home for the better. That’s when we’ll start to climb the table.

“We have two good teams coming our way and this is when we can set down a marker. If you think about Exeter at this time last year they were bottom of the table. They went on a run and that shows that if you can put a few wins together it puts you right back in it.

“There’s nothing to worry about as far as we’re concerned. If we do what we can do we’ll be where we all want to be. There isn’t a player in the group who wants to be in this league. Our aim is to go higher and we all want to achieve it together.

“That’s why you sulk to yourself if you’re not involved, as I’ve done, but you don’t show it to the rest of the lads. You get behind the players who are going out there and make sure you’re ready to do your bit if needs be.”

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